Since the last Human Development Report was published in 2010, several key events and developments have impacted empowerment in Palestine. While some have had a positive impact, on the whole there has been a marked deterioration in the state of Palestinian empowerment over the past four years. The international recognition of Palestinian readiness for statehood and the international recognition of the State of Palestine stand out as key positive developments. On the other hand, war-related human suffering and destruction in Gaza in 2012 and 2014, the continued siege of Gaza, continued Israeli settlement expansion, settler violence, the continued tight grip of the occupation’s capricious control regime and heavy handedness (particularly in East Jerusalem and so-called “Area C”), and the deepening of East Jerusalem’s isolation from the rest of the West Bank, all contributed to more deeply entrenching the reality of occupation in the occupied Palestinian territory.